Methods and Apparatus for Wireless Network Base Station Categorization and Parameter Profiling

The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for determining and/or categorizing types of wireless base station(s) and/or configuring wireless base station(s) using wireless base station type parameter profiles. The present invention also relates to methods and apparatus for utilizing geographical information and/or user equipment information corresponding to a wireless base station's coverage area in determining and/or categorizing the wireless base station and/or configuring the wireless base station.

In any given wireless network, performance and/or spectral efficiency depends on, among other things, the locations of the wireless base stations, configuration parameters for the wireless base stations, geography, type of frequencies deployed and/or range of frequencies used by the deployed base stations, integration parameters, and installation quality and conditions. However, the reliability of wireless network communications depends on parameters defined in the network management system (NMS). Usually, these parameters are defined network wide while conditions of the base stations and/or user equipment devices and/or users are ignored. For example, handover parameters defined for a downtown area are not suitable for user equipment devices and base stations located in a rural area due to the type of activity for which the user equipment device is used by its user, movement of the user equipment device, traffic density at the time of user equipment device activity, and location of user equipment devices such as indoor or outdoor or the location with respect to high rise buildings. Similarly, many times base station antenna tilts are kept more or less tilted without logical reason and/or taking into account changes in the environment/surroundings of the base station since installation which lead to poor network performance. Furthermore, trying to manage different configuration parameters for each individual base station of a wireless network can also be very costly and inefficient as it can be problematic from a tracking and management perspective to utilize unique configurations for each base station which is why the same parameters are usually defined network wide while the conditions of the base stations and/or user equipment devices are ignored. Moreover, there are currently no categorization (e.g., dynamic categorizations) and/or base station configuration parameter profiling used by wireless networks for adjusting and/or configuring the wireless base station parameters defined in the NMS of the wireless network based on a base station's determined categorization (e.g., categories based on signaling conditions and/or geographical environmental factors).

From the foregoing, it should be understood that there is a need for new and/or improved methods and apparatus for efficiently and effectively determining and managing the configuration of wireless base stations of a wireless system to improve the wireless base stations and the wireless system's operational performance and spectral efficiency. There is a need for a solution to how to effectively and efficiently solve the problem of configuring wireless base stations of a wireless system while taking into account geographical information and user equipment device information corresponding to the coverage area of a wireless base station. There is a need for new and/or improved methods and apparatus to determine a wireless base station type from a set of wireless base station types based on characteristics and/or properties of the coverage area of the wireless base station and/or wireless device information corresponding to the wireless base station and/or the coverage area of the wireless base station. From the foregoing, it should be understood that there is a need for new and/or improved methods and apparatus for categorizing (e.g., dynamic categorizing) wireless base stations by base station type and/or for use in configuration parameter profiling for adjusting and/or configuring a wireless base station parameters based on a base station's determined categorization (e.g., categories based on signaling conditions, geographical environmental factors, location of wireless devices such as for example user equipment devices being serviced).

The present invention provides new and/or improved methods and apparatus for efficiently and effectively determining and managing the configuration of wireless base stations of a wireless system to improve the wireless base stations and the wireless system's operational performance and spectral efficiency. In various embodiments, new and/or improved methods and apparatus are used to determine a wireless base station type from a set of wireless base station types based on characteristics and/or properties of the coverage area of the wireless base station and/or wireless device information corresponding to the wireless base station and/or the coverage area of the wireless base station with the wireless base station type then being used to identify appropriate configuration parameters for the wireless base station. Various embodiments of the present invention provide new and/or improved methods and apparatus for categorizing (e.g., dynamic categorizing) wireless base stations by base station type and then configuring the base stations using a set of configuration parameters which match the determined base station type. In various embodiments, new and/or improved methods and apparatus are provided for base station configuration parameter profiling by type and for adjusting and/or configuring a wireless base station's parameters based on a base station's determined categorization (e.g., categories based on signaling conditions, geographical environmental factors, and/or location of wireless devices such as user equipment devices being serviced). Various embodiments of the present invention also provide new and/or improved methods and apparatus for testing the performance of adjusted base station configurations and determining whether the performance is better or worse since the adjustments. Various embodiments of the present invention provide new and/or improved methods and apparatus for updating wireless base station configurations when environments in which the wireless base station is located change. Various embodiments of the present invention use new and/or improved methods and apparatus for managing a wireless system by utilizing a limited set of base station configuration profiles across all or the majority of base stations of the wireless system to minimize the tracking and management of wireless base stations while still achieving performance advantages over using conventional or uniform configuration parameters for all base stations. Various embodiments of the present invention solve one or more of the problems discussed above.

The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for determining wireless base station configuration parameters. An exemplary method includes the steps of: determining a wireless base station type or a wireless base station coverage area type for a first wireless base station based on geographical information corresponding to a coverage area of the first wireless base station; determining a set of operational configuration parameters for the first wireless base station based on the determined wireless base station type or the wireless base station coverage area type; and configuring the first wireless base station using the determined set of operational configuration parameters. In various embodiments, the set of operational configuration parameters is determined from a plurality of sets of operational configuration parameters. The operational configuration parameters included in each set of operational configuration parameters may, but need not, include all of the configuration parameters for a wireless base station. For example, it can include cell reselection/handoff parameters and base station transmit power parameters while not including antenna tilt parameters.

In some embodiments, the geographical information includes clutter information corresponding to the coverage area of the first wireless base station, said clutter information including terrain information (e.g., elevation and type of terrain such open land, dessert, forest, trees, vegetation, water bodies (e.g., rivers, lakes, streams, ocean), farmland, cliffs, rangeland, snow, ice, etc.) and infrastructure information (e.g., information (e.g., dimensions and/or materials from which infrastructure constructed) on buildings, water towers, bridges, dams, canals, walls, roads, highways, street lamps, etc. located in the coverage area).

In some embodiments, the geographical information includes clutter information corresponding to the coverage area of the first wireless base station, said clutter information including information identifying different locations within the coverage area (e.g., different portions of the coverage area) as corresponding to a particular clutter type from a plurality of clutter types. In some such embodiments, the step of determining a wireless base station type for a first wireless base station based on geographical information corresponding to the coverage area of the first wireless base station includes: using the information identifying different locations within the coverage area as corresponding to a particular clutter type from a plurality of clutter types to determine the wireless base station type from a set of wireless base station types.

In some embodiments, the step of determining a wireless base station type for a first wireless base station based on geographical information corresponding to a coverage area of the first wireless base station includes: categorizing the coverage area of the first wireless base station based on the geographical information corresponding to the coverage area of the first wireless base station. In some such embodiments, the method further includes the additional step of determining the first wireless base station type based on the results of the categorization of the coverage area of the first wireless base station.

In some embodiments, the step or operation of categorizing the coverage area of the first wireless base station based on geographical information corresponding to the coverage area of the first wireless base station includes: determining a category from a set of categories to which the coverage area of the first wireless base station belongs, said set of categories including: urban category, suburban category, and rural category.

In some embodiments, the step of determining the wireless base station type for the first wireless base station based on geographical information corresponding to the coverage area of the first wireless base station includes: determining the wireless base station type from a set of wireless base station types, said set of wireless base station types including the following types: urban type, suburban type and rural type.

In some embodiments, the step of determining the wireless base station type for the first wireless base station is further based on wireless device information corresponding to the coverage area of the first wireless base station. The wireless device information may, and in some embodiments does, include location information identifying the location of wireless devices within the coverage area of the first wireless base station.

In some embodiments, the step of determining the wireless base station type for the first wireless base station based on wireless device information corresponding to the coverage area of the first wireless base station includes: (i) determining a percentage or a number of wireless devices being serviced by the first wireless base station that are located inside of a building; and (ii) determining a percentage or a number of the wireless devices being serviced by the first wireless base station which are not located within a building.

In some embodiments, the step of determining the wireless base station type for the first wireless base station based on geographical information corresponding to the coverage area of the first wireless base station and further based on wireless device information includes: determining the wireless base station type from a set of wireless base station types, said set of wireless base station types including the following types: urban with predominately outdoor users type, urban with predominately indoor users type, suburban with predominately outdoor users type, suburban with predominately indoor users type, rural with predominately outdoor users type, and rural with predominately indoor users type.

In some embodiments, the urban with predominately outdoor users wireless base station type corresponds to a base station with a coverage area wherein a majority of the highest number of wireless devices (e.g., user equipment devices (UEs)) being serviced by the wireless base station are located in an urban area and are not located within one or more buildings. In some embodiments, the urban with predominately indoor users wireless base station type corresponds to a base station with a coverage area wherein a majority of the highest number of wireless devices (e.g., UEs) being serviced by the wireless base station are located in an urban area and are located within one or more buildings. In some embodiments, the suburban with predominately outdoor users wireless base station type corresponds to a base station with a coverage area wherein a majority of the highest number of wireless devices (e.g., UEs) being serviced by the wireless base station are located in a suburban area and are not located within one or more buildings. In some embodiments, the suburban with predominately indoor users wireless base station type corresponds to a base station with a coverage area wherein a majority of the highest number of wireless devices (e.g., UEs) being serviced by the wireless base station are located in a suburban area and are located within one or more buildings. In some embodiments, the rural with predominately outdoor users wireless base station type corresponds to a base station with a coverage area wherein a majority of the highest number of wireless devices (e.g., UEs) being serviced by the wireless base station are located in a rural area and are not located within one or more buildings. In some embodiments, the rural with predominately indoor users wireless base station type corresponds to a base station with a coverage area wherein a majority of the highest number of wireless devices (e.g., UEs) being serviced by the wireless base station are located in a rural area and are located within one or more buildings.

In some embodiments, the determined set of operational configuration parameters include one or more of the following: maximum base station transmit power level parameter, a maximum user equipment device transmit power level parameter, cell reselection parameters, handover parameters, and a wireless base station antenna tilt parameter.

In some embodiments, the step of determining a set of operational configuration parameters for the first wireless base station based on the determined wireless base station type includes: determining the set of operational configuration parameters from a plurality of sets of operational configuration parameters.

In some embodiments, the determined set of operational configuration parameters includes at least: handover parameters, said handover parameters including a hysteresis value, a minimum signal strength value, and a signal offset value.

In some embodiments, the step of configuring the first wireless base station using said determined set of operational configuration parameters includes: sending a message to the first wireless base station indicating the first wireless base station is to operate using the determined set of operational configuration parameters.

The present invention is also applicable to apparatus and system embodiments wherein one or more devices implement the steps of the method embodiments. In some apparatus embodiments each of the wireless base station, user equipment devices, network equipment devices, core network system, Operations Support Systems, Network Management System, Performance Parameter Application Server, Decision Tree Server, Performance Data Feedback Collector Server, Planning and GeoData Server, Statistical Calculation Server, and each of the other apparatus/devices/nodes/servers of the system include one or more processors and/or hardware circuitry, input/output interfaces including receivers and transmitters, and a memory. The memory including instructions when executed by one or more of the processors control the apparatus/device/node/server of the system to operate to perform the steps and/or functions of various method embodiments of the invention.

The present invention is also applicable to and includes apparatus and systems such as for example, apparatus and systems that implement the steps and/or functions of the method embodiments. For example, a system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention includes: memory and a network management server, said network management server including a first processor that controls the network management server to perform the following operations: determining a wireless base station type for a first wireless base station based on geographical information corresponding to a coverage area of the first wireless base station; determining a set of operational configuration parameters for the first wireless base station based on the determined wireless base station type; and configuring the first wireless base station using said determined set of operational configuration parameters.

While various embodiments have been discussed in the summary above, it should be appreciated that not necessarily all embodiments include the same features and some of the features described above are not necessary but can be desirable in some embodiments. Numerous additional features, embodiments and benefits of various embodiments are discussed in the detailed description which follows.

Various embodiments of the present invention include new and/or improved methods, systems, and apparatus for improving the spectral efficiency of a wireless network by updating operational configuration parameters of one or more wireless base stations of a wireless communications system. The term wireless base station and base station are used interchangeably herein.

The selection and/or determination of the operational configuration parameters with which a wireless base station is updated is based on a determination or categorization of the wireless base station by type from a set of wireless base station types (e.g., a set consisting of or including the following types: rural type, suburban type, and urban type). In various embodiments of the invention, radio frequency propagation modeling, base station location and coverage area information, and geographical information (e.g., clutter and terrain information including clutter and terrain maps) are used to determine and/or categorize a wireless base station's type from the types included in the set of base station types (e.g., rural type, suburban type or urban type).

Additionally, in various embodiments, the wireless base station type is further determined using at least some data collected and/or measured and/or generated during the operation of the wireless base station such as for example user equipment device location information reported by user equipment devices and/or signaling information such as for example signal strength information and/or signaling interference information by location reported by the user equipment devices operating in the coverage area. For example, user equipment devices operating within the coverage area of a wireless base station determine their location (e.g., Global Positioning System coordinates) and report the information to a base station of the communications system which forwards it to the network management system of the OSS of the communications system which makes the wireless base station type determination for wireless base stations in the wireless communications system. The user equipment devices also measure and report to the wireless base station signaling metrics information from which signaling strength and interference metrics and information (e.g., Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) information, Receive Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) information, Reference Signal Interference Power (RSIP) information, Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) information, Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio (SINR) information) can be obtained and/or generated with respect to locations in the wireless coverage area of the base station. Signaling information from one or more of the following may be, and in some embodiments is, used to determine the wireless base station type: RSRP information for the wireless base station's coverage area, RSSI information for the wireless base station's coverage area, RSRQ information, and SINR information for the wireless base station's coverage area.illustrates an exemplary heat mapshowing coverage area boundaries of the centroid marked base stations with different colors being used for coverage areas of neighboring base stations. The title for mapis Base Station Coverage By Server.illustrates an exemplary heat mapshowing base station coverage area by signal strength. The title for the mapis Base Station Coverage By Signal Strength.illustrates a legendfor the signal strength properties illustrated on the heat mapillustrated in. The title for the legendis Base Station Coverage By Signal Strength Legend. The title A heat map is a graphical representation of data where values are depicted by color.

The user equipment device reported information including location and signaling information also typically includes timing information indicating when the measurement or information being reported was determined. The timing information can be used to determine signaling coverage maps and user equipment device location maps based not only on location but also time (e.g., time periods) wherein time based metrics can be used in determining a base station's type as well as how changes to a base station's operating parameters affect the overall performance and spectral efficiency of the base station using time based metrics. For example, the OSS may determine that spectral efficiency increases at times during the day when user equipment device activity is low (e.g., at night) but decrease when user activity is high (e.g., during peak commute times (e.g., 7:00 a.m.-9:00 a.m., 5:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.) or during business hours (e.g., 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.)). This information can then be used to categorize the type of base station (e.g., rural type, suburban type or urban type) based on a time or time period which has the most significant impact on users. In some embodiments, this information can then be used to categorize the type of base station (e.g., rural type, suburban type or urban type) based on a time or time period and dynamically update operational configuration parameters for a base station to increase and/or maximize efficiency (e.g., maximize spectral efficiency, maximize successful completed connections, maximize successfully completed handovers) with respect to time.

In various embodiments, the wireless base station type is generated based on clutter type information corresponding to different portions of the coverage area of the wireless base station, the density population of the user equipment devices within the different portions of the coverage area of the wireless base station, and signal strength and/or interference information determined for the different portions of the coverage area of the wireless base station (e.g., average or median signal strength (RSRP) determined for the determined portions of the coverage area of the wireless base station). The signal strength of an area such as a portion of a coverage area is in at least some embodiments an indicator of an amount and/or type of clutter in the area. Similarly, in at least some instances the user equipment device density population is an indicator of an amount and/or type(s) of clutter and/or signaling interference with respect to an area. In various embodiments, a wireless base station type for a wireless base station is determined based on a statistical analysis of clutter information for a wireless base station's coverage area (e.g., diagramoftitled Statistical Review By Clutter Types And Coverage Area By Base Stationillustrates statistical analysis of clutter types for coverage area of wireless base stations A, A, A, A, A, A, A, A, A, A, and Aand the determination of each of these base stations types as being of rural type, urban type or suburban type) and/or a statistical analysis of wireless device information such as user equipment device locations within the coverage area and corresponding clutter type for the locations at which user equipment devices are located for the wireless base station (e.g., diagramoftitled Statistical Review By Clutter Types And Device Locations Per Base Stationillustrates statistical analysis of base station coverage area by clutter types and user device locations in the coverage area of wireless base stations A, A, A, A, A, A, A, A, A, A, and Aand the determination of each of these base stations types as being of rural type, urban type or suburban type). The clutter information in various embodiments includes information for different clutter types also referred to as clutter properties. For example,provides a legendof different clutter types/properties for the clutter information shown inmap. The clutter information includes geographical information including for example, clutter type information, terrain information, and/or building information for the coverage area of the base station (e.g., for each of the sectors and/or portions of the coverage area). For example,provides a legendtitled Base Station And Device Locations and Clutter Height Legenfor clutter heights for the heat maptitled Base Station And Device Locations And Clutter Heightshown in. The terrain information may, and in some embodiments does, include the terrain type information and terrain height information. For example,illustrates a legendof terrain heights for the terrain height mapillustrated in. The mapis titled Base Station And Device Locations And Terrain Height. The legendis titled Base Station And Device Locations And Terrain Height Legend. The building information may, and in some embodiments does, include building dimensions (e.g., size and height information) and location information. Additionally, the user equipment device location information may, and in some embodiments does, include information on user equipment devices being located indoors (e.g., inside of buildings) or outdoors (outside of buildings).

In some embodiments, the wireless base station type is determined using base station type scoring wherein the base station type with the highest score is determined base station type. The score for each base station type being generated using numerical values. The base station type score may be, and in some embodiments is, generated by summing a set of weighted attributes and/or features represented in numerical form. The weights being numerical values which indicate the importance of the attribute and/or feature (e.g., a weight value of 0 means the attribute/feature has no importance and should not be considered and a weighted value of 1 means the attribute/feature has the highest importance and should be fully considered and weighted values between 0 and 1 allow for different levels of importance in determining the base station type's score. The set of weighted attributes and/or features for each base station type may include for example the following features: (i) the percentage of base station's coverage area being categorized and/or determined as of a particular clutter type (e.g., urban, suburban, rural), (ii) the percentage of user equipment devices being serviced by the base station located at a position or area categorized as being of a particular clutter type (e.g., urban, suburban, rural), (iii) the percentage of user equipment devices being serviced by the base station being located at position or area categorized as being indoors, or (iv) the percentage of user equipment devices being serviced by the base station being located at position or area categorized as being not indoors or outdoors.

Other attributes and/or features can include: (a) the percentage of the base station's coverage area corresponding to a particular category (e.g., urban, suburban, rural) having an average signaling strength (e.g., Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) greater than a signal strength threshold value, (b) the percentage of the base station's coverage area corresponding to a particular category (e.g., urban, suburban, rural) that has a signaling interface value below a signal interference threshold value. The numerical values of the attribute and/or feature set may be, and sometimes are, normalized as part of generating the base station type score. As previously discussed each attribute/feature of the attribute/feature set is multiplied by a weighting factor assigned to the attribute/feature based on the features importance in determining the base station type score. The larger the numerical value of the weighting factor assigned to a feature the more important the feature is to determining the base station type score.

Below are an exemplary set of equations for determining a base station type using a base station type scoring method.

An exemplary use of the above equations will now be demonstrated to determine a base station type for a base station. N has a value of 3 and X has a value of 3. W1, W2, and W3 are all equal to 1 so that each of the features being considered have equal weights and are equally important. The base station type 1 is urban type. The base station type 2 is suburban type. The base station type 3 is rural type. Feature 1 is the percentage of the base station coverage area which is determined and/or categorized as being the same as the base station type. In this example, the base station's coverage area is determined and/or categorized to be 10% urban, 20% suburban, and 70% rural. Feature 2 is the percentage of UEs being serviced by the base station which are located in an area categorized as being the same type as the base station. In this example, 80% of the UEs are located in an urban area, 15% of the UEs are located in a suburban area, and 5% are located in a rural area. Feature 3 is the percentage of the base stations wireless traffic occurring with UEs located in an area categorized as being the same type as the base station. In this example, 90% of the wireless traffic is occurring with UEs located in an urban area, 9% of the wireless traffic is occurring with UEs located in a suburban area, and 1% of the wireless traffic is occurring with UEs located in a rural area. For ease of calculation the percentages have been multiplied by 100.

Base Station Type Urban Score=(1)(10)+(1)(80)+(1)(90)=180.

Base Station Type Suburban Score=(1)(20)+(1)(15)+(1)(9)=93.

Base Station Type Rural Score=(1)(70)+(1)(5)+(1)(1)=111.

Highest Base Station Type Score is the Base Station Type Urban Score of 180.

The base station's type being determined by the base station type score being the highest from the set of base station type scores which in this example is the urban base station type.

If the weighting factors of the features are changed for example if the W2 weighting factor was set to a value of 0.5 indicating that the percentage of the user equipment devices located by coverage area type is not as important as the per percentage of the coverage area being of the base station's type and the W3 weighting factor is set to a value 0.2 indicating that the traffic feature is even less important to determining the base station type then the equations would be modified as follows:

Base Station Type Urban Score=(1)(10)+(0.5)(80)+(0.2)(90)=68.

Base Station Type Suburban Score=(1)(20)+(0.5)(15)+(0.2)(9)=29.3.

Base Station Type Rural Score=(1)(70)+(0.5)(5)+(1)(0.2)=72.7.

Highest Base Station Type Score is the Base Station Type Rural Score of 72.7.

The base station's type being determined from the base station type score being the highest from the set of base station type scores which, in this example with the changed weighting factors, is the rural base station type.

As demonstrated in the above example, determining a base station type and/or the operational configuration parameters for the base station using a weighted factor scoring method is a flexible and versatile method for taking into account various differing features and/or attributes with the weight factors being used to determine importance for each of the features/attributes being considered. It also allows for the adjustment of the weights for the differing features/attributes when different base station geographical environments are encountered.

illustrates elements of an exemplary systemin accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Systemincludes a wireless network operated by a wireless network operator including a plurality of wireless base stations (BS, BS, BS, . . . , BS N, (N being a positive integer greater than 3), a core network, an Operations Support Systems (OSS)and a plurality of user equipment devices (UE, UE, UE, UE, UE, UE, UE, UE, UE, UE, . . . , UE X(X being a positive integer greater than 10)). The core networkis coupled and/or connected to BS, BS, BS, . . . , BS Nvia communications links,,, . . . ,respectively. The core networkis coupled to the OSSvia communications link. The communications links,,, . . . ,,are typically high speed wired, fiber and/or optical communications links. However, in some embodiments, one or more of the communications links,,, . . . ,,are wireless communications links. The OSSincludes a Network Management System, a Planning and GeoData Server, a statistical calculation server, a Performance Parameter Application Server, a Performance Data Feedback Collector Server, and a Decision Tree Server. In some embodiments, the Network Management Systemis implemented as a server. In some embodiments, one or more of the Network Management System, a Planning and GeoData Server, a statistical calculation server, a Performance Parameter Application Server, a Performance Data Feedback Collector Server, and a Decision Tree Serveris implemented as a function or component of the OSS. In some embodiments, the Performance Parameter Application Server, the Performance Data Feedback Collector Server, and/or the Decision Tree Serverare implemented as functions and/or components of the Network Management System. In some embodiments, the OSSand/or one or more of the systems and/or servers of the OSSare implemented in a cloud system (e.g., as functions implemented on nodes or servers of the cloud system). Exemplary communications links,,,,,andcouple and/or connect the various elements of the Operations Support Systemas shown inallowing the elements to exchange information, messages, instructions and/or data. These communications links are typically high speed wire and/or fiber optic communications links.

Each of the wireless base station of the system(BS, BS, BS, . . . , BS N) have a wireless coverage area in which the wireless base station providers wireless services to user equipment devices. The coverage area of each of the wireless base stations as will be discussed in detail below depends on a variety of factors including the frequency of the spectrum being utilized by the wireless base station for communications, the location of the base station, and environment (e.g., structures such as trees, mountains, buildings, etc.) in which the wireless base station is deployed. Exemplary wireless base stations include gNodeBs (gNBs, eNodeBs (eNBs), and Citizens Broadband Radio Service Devices (CBSDs).

The user equipment devices are typically end-point wireless devices such as for example smartphones, laptops, tablets, wireless sensors, wireless smart devices (appliances), computers, etc. which communicate using spectrum with the wireless base stations of system. In the exemplary system, UE, UEand UEare wirelessly coupled and/or connected to BS; UEand UEare wirelessly coupled and/or connected to BS; UEand UEare wirelessly coupled and/or connected to BS; UE, UE, UE, . . . , UE Xare wirelessly coupled and/or connected to BS N. In many systems, the spectrum utilized by a Base Station is spectrum licensed by the wireless network operator of the wireless network. In some systems, such as for example, systems utilizing Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) networks, the user equipment devices are provided wireless services by the BS to which they are coupled and/or connected using CBRS spectrum allocated to the CBSD by a Spectrum Access System which manages the use of CBRS spectrum. In some embodiments, the user equipment devices of the system also include Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) devices, wireless gateways and/or other base stations which include user equipment device emulators having receiving and transmitting circuitry allowing each of these devices to wirelessly communicate using spectrum (e.g., CBRS spectrum for a CBRS network such as PAL or GAA spectrum utilized by the wireless network operator). One or more of the user equipment devices may be, and in many embodiments are, mobile devices which receive wireless services from different wireless base stations as the user equipment devices move between different coverage areas of the different wireless base stations of system. While the systemonly shows a limited number of wireless base stations and user equipment devices, this is only exemplary and for the sake of simplicity in explaining the invention. In actual implementations, there are large numbers (e.g., thousands) of base stations including micro and/or macro base stations with large numbers (e.g., thousands and/or hundreds of thousands) of user equipment devices being supported by the wireless network. In some embodiments, the wireless network is a 4G or 5G wireless network.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the following steps are performed. A base station is initially operated with a default set of operational configuration settings. A first set of metrics are collected on the operation of the base station (e.g., success and/or failure of user equipment device connection attempts, success and/or failure of handover attempts, success and/or failure of reselection attempts) while the base station operates using the default set of operational parameters (e.g., for a first period of time such as a hour, day, week or month). User equipment device location information is obtained by the network management system for the user equipment devices located within the vicinity of the base station (e.g., entering into, exiting or operating within the coverage area of the base station) and/or which connect to and/or are provided services by the base station. For example, user equipment devices which receive a reference signal from the base station and/or connect to the base station report their location their location information typically in latitude and longitude form and/or as GPS coordinates to a network management system of the wireless network via one or more base stations of the wireless network (e.g., the base station of the wireless network to which the user equipment device is connected). The network management system collects this user equipment device location information and provides it and/or inputs it to a planning and geodata server which includes a propagation component or function and geographical information for the coverage area of the wireless network including the coverage area of the base station. The geographical information includes clutter information (e.g., clutter class and type information) and terrain and building data for the coverage area of the wireless network and in particular the base station. In some embodiments, the terrain and building information is included in the clutter information. Once the user equipment location information has been provided to and/or inputted into the planning and geodata server, statistics are generated with clutter class categories for the coverage area, indoor or outdoor categories with respect to the user equipment devices with the use of buildings data, etc. Once the various areas within the base station's coverage area (determined from user equipment device location information and/or calculated coverage area based on the propagation model used by the planning and geodata server propagation component or function) are classified using the clutter information, terrain information and building information, the various areas can then be further reclassified in to three broad categories or types-urban category or type, suburban category or type, and rural category or type. The overall coverage area of the base station can then be determined based on the categorizations of the various areas within the base station's coverage area.

illustrates a clutter type tablewhich shows an exemplary mapping of clutter types to a set of exemplary broader categories or types. The set of broader categories or types including the categories/types of: urban, suburban, and rural. The exemplary tablemay be included in memory in one or more components in the OSS and/or in a storage device such as a data base system or data repository accessible from various nodes, devices, and/or components of the OSS. The tableincludes columnsandand rows,,,,,,,,, and. The entries in roware labels indicating the information contained in each column. Entries in columnare a clutter type (entry row, column) Entries in columnare the broader category/type (entry row, column) which the clutter type of the same row is mapped. The clutter type urban (entry row, column) is mapped to the broader category/type urban (entry row, column). The clutter type urban streets (entry row, column) is mapped to the broader category/type urban (entry row, column). The clutter type urban highways (entry row, column) is mapped to the broader category/type urban (entry row, column). The clutter type open-nonvegetated (entry row, column) is mapped to the broader category/type suburban (entry row, column). The clutter type commercial-industrial (entry row, column) is mapped to the broader category/type suburban (entry row, column). The clutter type grassland-agriculture (entry row, column) is mapped to the broader category/type rural (entry row, column). The clutter type forested (entry row, column) is mapped to the broader category/type rural (entry row, column). The clutter type residential with trees (entry row, column) is mapped to the broader category/type rural (entry row, column). The clutter type inland water (entry row, column) is mapped to the broader category/type rural (entry row, column).

Exemplary properties of urban areas are that they generally consist of or include large and medium size buildings, are densely populated (e.g., high density of user equipment devices), experience high network congestion along with high signal interference. Exemplary properties of suburban areas are that they generally consist of or include small size buildings along with few commercial but open areas, moderate user equipment device movements, medium network congestion and less signal interference compared to urban areas. Exemplary properties of rural areas are that they generally consist of or include quite open areas including water bodies, scattered buildings with low signal penetration losses, no or low network congestion, and no or minimal signal interference (less interference than the suburban areas) due to distant sites and coverage prints. In at least some embodiments, threshold values are used to define which buildings are large, medium, or small based on a building's dimensions such as for example a building's height, length and/or width. For example, buildings whose dimensions (height multiplied by width multiplied by length) are less than a small building threshold are defined as small, buildings whose dimensions (height multiplied by width multiplied by length) are equal to or greater than the small building threshold and less than a large building threshold are defined as medium, and buildings whose dimensions (height multiplied by width multiplied by length) are greater than or equal to a large building threshold are defined as a large building.

The type of base station is then determined based on the categorization of the base station's coverage area. For example, if a base station's coverage area is determined or categorized as being rural then the base station's type is determined to be base station type rural. If a base station's coverage area is determined or categorized as being suburban then the base station's type is determined to be base station type suburban. If a base station's coverage area is determined or categorized as being suburban then the base station's type is determined to be base station type suburban.

Once the base station's type has been determined, parameter profiling in implemented wherein the operational configuration parameters corresponding to the determined base station type is utilized to update the base station's operational configuration parameters from their default operational configuration settings. Exemplary operational base station parameters and the user equipment device parameters for user equipment devices which the base station services include for example, base station transmit power, user equipment device transmit power, cell reselection parameters, handover parameters, and antenna tilt parameters. Tableofillustrates exemplary conventional or uniform wireless base station configuration parameters which can be and sometimes are used as default operational configuration parameters when a base station first becomes operational. As seen in tablethe same operational configuration parameters are used regardless of the base station type.is explained in additional detail below. Tableofillustrates exemplary categorized operational configuration parameters which different for each base station type. In this example, three base station types are being utilized urban, suburban and rural. Based on the determined base station type, the operational configuration parameters are updated in the base station and via the base station to the user equipment devices for user equipment device parameters such as UE maximum transmit power level. For example, the network management system will send the operational configuration parameters corresponding to its base station type to the base station which then updates its operational parameters from the default operational configuration parameters to the received operational configuration parameters and in turn sends updates to user equipment devices to update its configuration parameters (e.g., transmit power level). In some embodiments, one or more of the base stations in the wireless system store in memory different operational configuration profiles (e.g., urban operational configuration profile, suburban operational configuration profile, and rural operational configuration profile). Each of the different operation configuration profiles including the operational configuration parameters corresponding to the specific profile. In such, cases, the network management system in response to determining a base station is of a specific type can send instructions for the base station to update its operational configuration parameters to correspond to the determined base station type (e.g., base station is urban type update to stored operational configuration parameters corresponding to the urban operational configuration profile).